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Priyanka Chopra terminates contract with Nirav Modi

February 23, 2018

Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra, who also stars in U.S. television series "Quantico", terminated her contract as the brand ambassador for Nirav Modi's eponymous high-end diamond jewellery stores that stretch from New York to Beijing.

"In light of recent allegations, Priyanka Chopra has chosen to terminate her contract with the Nirav Modi brand," a spokesman for Chopra said in an emailed statement on Friday.

In what has been dubbed the biggest fraud in the country's banking history, India's No.2 state-run lender PNB has accused two junior employees at a Mumbai branch of colluding with companies linked to billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, to obtain fraudulent loans.

The bank alleges the employees issued unauthorised letters of undertaking that the firms used to get credit from overseas branches of other, mostly Indian banks.

A lawyer for Modi has denied his client was involved in any fraud. Choksi has not commented but his firm, Gitanjali Gems , has also denied involvement in the alleged fraud.

Shares in PNB, which have lost nearly 30 percent of their market capitalisation since the $1.8 billion fraud was made public on Feb.14. The stock ended 1 percent down on Friday, while Gitanjali Gems fell by its maximum daily limit of 5 percent to a new low of 24.75 rupees.